Those Nineteen Years
by Maisha.21
Summary: Fed up with the Dark Lord, the constant threats, and a horrible decision his parents make, Draco Malfoy decides to abandon his family and go Muggle. First Fanfic- please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Flight**

The weeds were so tall now that he could barely see the world beyond. Their house-keeping elves and trolls had all either escaped or were tied down to dark activities by the current Lord of the Malfoy Manor.

Draco hadn't seen the sunlight since ages. Sighing, he looked at his hand where the mark showed darkly. It was ugly- that was all there was to it. It was the ugliest mark he had ever seen and what it was capable of doing was a lot uglier than the mark itself.

He hadn't completed the task he was set for last year- although he tried to regret it, he knew that was the only thing he hung on to- he hadn't killed anyone yet. He wasn't a murderer yet- perhaps very soon he would be, but at least for the time- he was alright with that.

Draco got up slowly, following the voices to the Hall. He wasn't surprised by the shrieks now. It happened every day- someone was brought in, tortured and then killed. Draco used to cry at first but he was way past that now. Sometimes, he wondered if he was still a human.

"What is it this time?" He asked Wormtail who was guarding the doors.

"Master had better not go in there- it's for his own good." Wormtail replied with a slight smirk on his face. Draco stared the little rat-like man. He looked perfectly harmless but he was so obliging under power that it had turned him into a horrible creature.

He entered the Hall, wincing at the scream. It sounded like a small girl- Bellatrix must have tortured her. That woman would torture a nine-month old baby and laugh in its face if she felt like it; or if the Dark Lord had asked her to.

There was a whole crowd of people gathered around a small body. His father held his wand in his hand, shivering. Feeling pathetic, Draco went closer to inspect the body.

She was a young child- perhaps just 12 or 13 years old. She lay lifeless on the floor, the last screams of her soul still echoing in the dead hall. There was an aura of sincerity around her, even as her body was getting cold. She looked like she had been the apple of someone's eye. Draco was sure whoever her parents were- they'd be crushed beyond the Cruciatus curse to see their beautiful girl dead. She _was _beautiful- a soft, pale face, sharp features, a pointed nose... platinum blond hair.

"Who is she?" Draco asked hurriedly, his heartbeats quickening. The room was silent. Bellatrix laughed, rudely torturing the last echo of the girl.

"Who _is _she?" Draco repeated more urgently than ever. He knelt down before her and looked at his parents. His father's hand was still shivering but he hadn't withdrawn his wand. His mother stood there with tears glistening in her eyes.

"Mother..." Draco began.

"You must have concealed the secret well then!" Bellatrix's voice boomed. "He hasn't known for twelve years!"

"What have I not known?" Draco turned to Bellatrix. His face was pale beyond recognition. "SOMEBODY TELL ME SOMETHING!" He yelled, taking over Bellatrix's voice.

"She was your sister you fool!" A dark voice loomed over his head. Draco felt the instantaneous shock of a spellbinding curse that confirms a horrid suspicion. Unable to get up or move, Draco stared at the girl's face.

"Why?" His voice dropped to a dead whisper.

"She was a filthy squib that's why..." The Dark Lord came out ahead to face Draco but he wouldn't take his eyes off the girl. "And don't look so shocked. I don't suppose you should care much for her- you didn't even know her! Your parents made the right decision I must say. I hadn't even started contemplating on what to do with her but your father here... what a good man!"

"Draco, please try and understand- she would've only brought more troubles to our family!" His mother said in a hushed voice.

"H-how... how didn't I know?" Draco murmured, his expression still reflecting his shock.

"We'd sent her away to live with an elf in a dark house beyond the boundaries of our walls." Lucius explained.

"Why _now…_?" Draco questioned.

"With these dark times and the war around, we all thought it was best to kill her." Bellatrix said simply. "We didn't want her to get out- she was getting so big anyway."

Draco got up and faced his parents. "All because she was a SQUIB?" Draco thundered, shaking Bellatrix out of her pleasant trance.

"Draco, try and understand... she was nothing to us..." Narcissa began. But she couldn't hide the distress in her voice.

"I had a sister for 12 years and I was kept in the dark about all this?" His voice rose so high that he feared for a second the Dark Lord might kill him. But the fear went as quickly as it came.

"Draco, _you _are our son- our only child. She was nothing to us." Lucius said soothingly.

"How could you murder your own child?" Draco cried, suddenly going very red with all the negative excitement. "She was your own blood and flesh!"

Nobody answered that. He looked around to see that the Dark Lord had left the room very uninterestedly.

"What was her name?" Draco asked, his face turned back to the dead girl.

"Melissa…" His mother whispered.

Tears welled up in Draco's eyes. He turned and fled from the Hall, ignoring everything and everyone around him. He ran so fast that things blurred. Footsteps and voices hit his ears like sharp pins. Bursting into his room, Draco shut the door and looked frantically all around the room. Something- anything good… Finally laying his hands on his long drawn wand, Draco shut his eyes. He couldn't think clearly but something came into his head as he stood and concentrated beyond the confusion of noises beyond the door.

Brick-red houses, fresh grass, the sweet aroma… Determinedly Draco gripped his wand and disapparated out of the Magical World.


	2. Chapter 2- The Strange, Familiar Land

**Chapter Two: The Strange, Familiar Land**

Before Draco even opened his eyes, he felt the stinging ice-cold air. The place was deserted- perhaps because it was two minutes past 2:00 AM. He squinted in the darkness and looked through the flood lights.

It looked like a long, endless road. Countless redbrick houses and a few white ones lined up on the left side of the road. The other side was an open field. Breathing in the fresh air, Draco tucked away his wand hurriedly.

He decided to explore the long, endless lane. Walking along the wall of the field, Draco looked around for road signs and maps. Something white shone on the wall in the streetlight. Peering in closer, Draco read the sign- _Penny Lane_. And in the corner of it, _L18 _was inscribed on.

"Penny Lane?" Draco whispered.

"That's exactly where ye are, ye jigger rabbit!" Someone's shadow shrouded the light.

Draco spun to see a tall man in a night suit standing and puffing at a cigar.

"Well? What're ye a mush 'round here?" He asked Draco as if he didn't really expect an answer. "Or are ye one o' those bummin' lads comin' here to catch a berd?"

Draco stared at the man, not knowing what to say. "I-I don't understand what you're saying."

"Oh don't think ye can be all doodle with me!" He said loudly. "Look at ye- all dolled up in dem Martine 'enries… Or are ye just blitzed?"

Draco would've said something, only he was completely clueless about everything at that point.

"Come 'en den… Haven't got a bar nicker on ye, do ye now? Want me to call dem scuffers?"

"I'm really sorry but I can't understand a word of what you are saying!" Draco cried at last.

"Hmm… Darrafact eh?" The tall man took a puff of smoke. "Looks to me ye are one of dem mushes."

"What's a mush?" Draco asked curiously. Muggle language was going to be harder than he thought.

"Yis, ee's a mush alrigh'…" The man said, taking Draco by his collar.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Draco struggled.

"I'll take ye to a scuffer." The man replied plainly. "If yer a straight up he'll let ye go!"

"Well, where ever you are taking me, I can walk." Draco said, untangling himself from the man's grip.

"Ahh, the police won't hurt ye if yer a fine ole lad!" The man continued.

"The what won't hurt me?"

"Gawds where are ye from?" The man cried, exasperated for some reason. "Don't know the police eh? What do they call dem at yer place then? Cops is it? Or the fuzz- dem that arrest ye when yev done something wrong?"

"Oh them!" Draco finally caught on to something. "It's called the ministry." He added, pronouncing every word with extra caution as though he'd forget how to speak right soon.

"Say where'd ye come from anyway?" The man asked Draco gruffly, leading him down to a small, dimly lit lane. "What's a divvy lad like ye doin' 'ere in de pool?"

"The pool?" Draco asked distractedly. He desperately wanted to know more about this Muggle land. The lanes seemed so familiar with the brick houses and the narrow roads and the fresh green grass on one side.

"Yis- this is Liverpool, lad! The finest place for all us who're not woollybacks. I tell ye- dem woollybacks are the worst divvies in all da damned world… comin' from dem little towns and obscure villages…" The man led them to a dimly lit building.

The man drabbled on. Draco hardly cared much. His head whizzed like a thousand Filibuster Fireworks going off at once. He was clueless about this Penny Lane, or this man, or the Muggle world and yet he was going to these _scruffers, _very stupidly.

"There ye go officer I found one of dem divvies for you!" The man said loudly. Draco shifted his eyes from a very large, unmoving WANTED poster of a criminal with a strange-looking wand in his hand, to the room. It was dingy and small and there was nothing but a small rectangular table where a small man sat in a blue uniform. He barely looked up as the man came in with Draco.

"Have you been prowling around yet again, Max?" The officer asked him, speaking as clear as a bell. Draco heaved a sigh of relief at his accent.

"Well, who do we have here?" He added, crossing off a name on his notebook very neatly.

"I found dis un at Penny Lane just now, looks like 'ee cost millyins, don' he?" Max, the tall man said very proudly. "Yis sir, I got him meself!"

"Well alright Max, you've done a good hard day's work…" The police officer began.

"Ay ay! Call it a Hard Day's Night if you will Sire!" Max said, suddenly very excited for some reason.

"Alright Max, now get out of my station." The police officer said threateningly. Max bowed low and bounced out of the building.

"Now, sit down young man." The police officer offered. Draco sat rather grudgingly on the grimy, wooden chair. "I'm Sargent Harrison of Liverpool."

Draco said nothing.

"Now, I'll start with a few simple details- what is your name?"

Everything about the name Draco Malfoy screamed wizard… "A-Adam…" He said quickly.

"Haven't got a last name, have you?" Sargent Harrison asked him, opening his drawer and taking out a rather fat, green registry book.

"N-not that I can remember of." Draco replied. Harrison's eyes shifted uneasily. He wasn't trusting Draco. Boring his brown eyes into the pages of his fat register, Harrison continued, "Where are you from?"

Draco opened his mouth but he didn't know what he'd say. Malfoy Manor? Hogwarts? Dear Merlin, help me! He cried to himself.

"I-I don't remember." He said finally. "London I think."

"How did you end up here?" Harrison quizzed him with a look of utter umbrage.

"W-well, I had a small accident. They told me so…" Draco said, surprised at his quickness.

"Aah, you're telling me you're suffering from temporary amnesia, is that so?" Harrison said, still shifting his eyes uneasily.

"Um… I'm not sure." Draco said placidly. Harrison sighed. "I've a good mind to pick you out from the pool and throw you over to the country side. Let 'em woollybacks deal with you."

_Woollybacks is their word for a village-person._ Draco noted with wonder.

"I have no reason yet to lock you up." Harrison said with an air of dismay. "Have any money on you boy?"

For the very first time, Draco understood the practical mistakes he'd made. No money, no food, no shelter. He shook his head and bent it down.

"And how old are you?"

"17" He replied confidently, feeling relieved he could answer something.

"Alright, I'm going to let you go. You'd better find some job in the next few days or I swear I'll lock you up if you go around begging." Harrison said with an air of finality.

"Begging for what?" Draco asked innocently.

"Get out before I lock you in!" Harrison growled ferociously.

Draco got up slowly, got a last look at the small shack and disappeared into the dark lanes of Penny Lane.


	3. Chapter 3- Adrianna

**Chapter Three: Adrianna**

"He's definitely a mush!"

"Oh but look how beautiful he is!"

Feeling like he'd been dreaming, Draco opened his eyes to see two pairs of eyes staring at him in excitement. He got up hurriedly, panting. The sunlight poured into ungrateful slumber. He first looked at the faces. They looked like girls but Draco wasn't so sure. Both of them had such short hair. Then he looked at the rest of them. They had on school skirts and they weren't much too tall.

He felt a bad crick in his neck. Unable to recognize the place, Draco looked around.

It was a large park and he'd been sleeping on a wooden bench. He couldn't remember everything after his chat with Harrison. He thought he'd been wandering around the dusty lanes far too long.

"Look at iz 'air!" One of the girls said suddenly. "He looks like one o dem frem da magazines."

"Look evin iz eyes are pretty!" The other replied. She appeared to be chewing on some pink gum. "An' hee smells nice too!"

Draco got up and dusted himself hastily. Clearing his throat, he tried to find a way around the girls politely but a few more emerged from somewhere. Some had pigtails and the others had tied up their hair really tight.

"Ooooh lookie dat gurls, iz da handsomest boy in de pool!" One of them squeaked. Breaking into a timorous sweat, Draco was about to dash his way out when two taller figures appeared.

"Back off kids, stop scaring the poor mush!"

Draco squinted in the brightness to see two people in similar school uniforms. One of them, a boy, looked at Draco, puzzled and surprised. The girl looked at him sneering to herself. Her sneer was even better than the sneer Draco gave Hermione Granger. She had shiny, dark hair and a very piercing look in her deep, hazel eyes.

The little girls scampered off but stopped a few yards away to stare at him again.

"Are you from dem States?" The boy asked Draco.

"What?" Draco was still panting.

"Don't be ridiculous Charlie!" The girl laughed snootily. "I'll bet you all a nicker he's a woollyback from some lowly…"

"No I am NOT!" Draco said loudly, suddenly feeling very awake.

"Really?" The girl sneered again. "Well where are you from then?"

Draco racked his brain for an answer. "Temporary Amnesia…" He finally stuttered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Charlie apologized almost immediately. But the girl simply raised her eyebrows. She had a very similar look in her eyes to Sergeant Harrison.

"Come, we'll show you around a bit. You've slept all through the morning." Charlie offered.

Draco looked up at the sky. The sun was high on his head.

"I'm Charlie and this is my friend Adrianna."

_Adrianna- like bells tolling in the snow._ Draco shook himself and stared at his apparent hosts. They didn't look bad to trust.

"What's your name, punk?" Adrianna asked him loudly.

"A-Adam." Draco stammered.

Adrianna and Charlie began to walk. Draco decided to follow them anyway. He looked around the park. The girls were following him but he decided to ignore them now.

"So, um… how big is Liverpool?" Draco questioned.

"Bigger than where you're from." Adrianna answered, giving him a very nosy stare.

Draco flattened his hair and looked Charlie. "It's big enough. You can't walk around. You'll need to take the bus."

"Oh, I'd prefer to walk around at least for now." Draco gulped.

"Really? I wonder why!" Adrianna replied. Draco had the feeling she saw him like a ghost- right through.

"Oh come Adrianna, don't be so mean!" Charlie said softly. _Adrianna. _Draco liked hearing the way her name rolled in his mind. "Look- there's Cassidy… she's with Violet." Charlie said aloud.

They crossed over the path to come to the sidewalk on the road. Two girls stood there, giggling to each other. They both had blond hair and they both looked like they'd been drunk. Adrianna happened to think so too.

"Blitzed again are you?" She asked casually. "Here, meet Adam- the newest mush Charlie picked up in the park."

Draco jumped as she mentioned his newly found allonym. He tried to smile at the drunken girls but it didn't seem to matter much to them.

"Ooooh look Vi, he's a pretty lad!" One of them cried, trying to touch Draco's hair. He dodged her quickly and stood a foot apart from the party.

"Pull yourselves together girls." Adrianna commanded. "Now, my papa told me this morning about this mush. He'd been to papa's office last night. He's to find a job and papa thinks _we _should help him." She rolled her eyes as she said _we._

"_You _are Sergeant Harrison's daughter?" Draco wondered aloud, not mighty surprised. Adrianna nodded her head. She was about to say something when the two girls began to crack up again.

"I'd say he'd make a very good model." The other girl replied, giggling.

"Ooooh I'd pay him for just a night of staring at him!" The first said, looking at Draco with a mad satisfaction in her eyes.

"If you knew who I was, why did you ask me?" He demanded, feeling very threatened.

"Just to be sure you are not some dandy from Manchester." Adrianna replied haughtily.

"Why don't we take him to Joe's? Maybe he can work in Joe's kitchen." Charlie suggested.

"Kitchen?" Draco scoffed but immediately wished he hadn't. He wasn't at Malfoy Manor anymore and he'd have to do with whatever was given to him.

Adrianna raised her eyebrows again. "Yer one of dem rich kids, aren't you?"

"N-no" Draco stammered and looked away. He knew Adrianna didn't believe him.

"Alrigh' les go ova to Joe's." She said finally.

Draco was left to follow them again. He began to breathe in the city around him. It all seemed new to him.

Strange blue buses rolled past speedily, reflecting many faces and emotions. School children ran around with their parents, dancing around to tunes unheard of as if jiving with the unseen zest life brought specially for the innocent. Large and sprawling buildings lay strewn about lazily, looking over the people bustling about with their daily chores. There was a light buzz in the air. Draco didn't know if the others heard it, but he did. He heard the buzz of life pumping right through every arterial lane.

Despite everything, Draco couldn't remember when he last felt so happy and relieved- perhaps when he last caught the snitch in a Quidditch match.

They passed lanes of red brick houses, a large hall and a few strangely named pubs. "What does the Cavern mean?" Draco asked, not able to take his eyes off the statue outside the entrance to a basement pub.

"That's where the Beatles played before they became big enough for the world!" Charlie said excitedly.

"Who?" Draco puzzled, smiling to himself as he saw three teenaged girls exiting the club, laughing and letting their hair go loose in the cool air.

But his party had stopped. "Where _are _you from?" Adrianna asked him quizzically. "You don't know John Lennon?" But she wasn't sneering at him anymore. There was a new found look of curiosity on her face.

"Um… I don't really move around much." Draco said quickly.

"He must've been one of those people that live under a rock!" Violet squealed excitedly. "Like Tarzan!"

Draco felt too stupid to ask who Tarzan was so he just shut up. "The _Beatles _are only the greatest band in history!" Charlie supplied Draco with the information. "Back in the early 1960s, even before Ringo was a part of the Beatles, they played at various smaller clubs all around Liverpool- the Cavern Club, the Casbah Coffee House… they are legend today and forever- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr- the Liverpool lads that changed the world."

"And um… what was so special about them?" Draco asked Charlie. He hadn't had such a thirst for his surroundings.

"They played music." Cassidy said. "No, they created _magic!" _

Draco cringed at the word like it was a murderer. "So, these um… Beatles, they changed the world with their music? And everyone feared them?"

"Feared them? Are you a 'edcase?" Violet cried. "Everybody LOVED them! Well maybe except a few other bands- they were most powerful an' all… but the world loves the Beatles. An' aar ay they broke up!"

"So, they were powerful and yet people loved them?" Draco tried to work this out. It seemed to be so different. _The Dark Lord can learn something from these Muggles._

At last, they reached a tiny restaurant called _Joe's Palace._ "Here's your place." Adrianna said nodding at the small red brick shack-like pub.

Draco stared at through the walls of his future employment. _This is what Muggles do for a living? _He still wasn't used to not having his way around.

"Hey Joey!" Adrianna yelled as they entered inside. The place was as small as one room of the Weasley's Burrow. Red paint peeled off the walls groaning and complaining about the utter lack of care. The tables and chairs drooped with an air of dismay and umbrage. People mopped around as if in a daze or perhaps they were under a spell. _Only, Muggles can't do magic. _Draco reminded himself. He didn't understand how they could do without it.

The restaurant seemed to be working like a well charmed clock. Waiters came in from the back door with trays of steaming hot dishes and served them to the customers hastily. A few others took orders and flailed them away to the back of the small window to the kitchen.

"Wow" Draco breathed in wonder.

"Well, it's not much but you can make do with it here. And if Adrianna butters up Joe, he may even let you stay for the nights." Charlie whispered into his ears.

Presently, Adrianna sauntered back with a very large man. He had a small French moustache and a goatee. His hair looked coifed and his eyes sparkled a melancholic blue. Draco didn't know what to make of him.

"Here's the boy, Joe. His name's Adam." Draco heard Adrianna's voice. It seemed much softer and polite now like warm butter melting on hot toast. "I'm sure he can take Freddie's place."

Joe, the middle-aged man, took a good look Draco. "Are you sure he ain't one of them Martin 'Enries?" He asked Adrianna.

"Naah, I'm sure he's just some woollyback. He says he's lost his memories. That's what papa told me." Adrianna said softly.

"Hey, I'm not a…" Draco began but was kicked on his shin so hard by Charlie that he felt his eyes burn.

"So, Adam darrafact?" Joe asked, turning to Draco. "Well, alright. Freddie was one of my best and God help him in de city of London but ye'll do."

Draco gave him a wry smile, still a little wary of the place. Muggle life wasn't going to be easy. What with no magic, he wondered how he'd be able to do anything right!

"Now remember, Adrianna's bin kin' 'nough to take the responsibility on her." Joe said suddenly. "If you're going to be doin' some fishy business, she'll be de one sendin' ye up the wall… and I wouldn't wanna be that!"

Draco looked at Adrianna. She didn't look at him anymore but gave Joe a very sweet smile. "He'll do good here Joe, I just know he will." She assured.

Then she left with Charlie and the rest without saying a word to Draco.

Joe turned with a frosty eyed look at Draco. "Now ye boy will start with cleaning up the tables."

"Cleaning?" Draco's stone grey eyes suddenly turned in the future. He could see the whole magic world laughing at him. Draco Malfoy, the waiter in some lowly pub where someone called the Beatles might've played. "Uh huh, yeah sure…."

Draco took off his blazers and began for his work. "Ah, you'd better put this on!" Joey handed him a dirty rag cloth. Draco wrinkled his nose and put on his apron.

It wasn't easy work. He had to take dirty dishes to the even dirtier kitchen and bring hot plates on a large tray while dashing into others like him. The heat of the kitchen came down on him like fire.

By the end of the day, he was more exhausted than he'd have been after a Quidditch match.

Joey gave him some fresh bread off the oven with cheese and butter. "Take some beer from the shelf there."

The other waiters had packed up and left. "Now there's Adrianna." Joey said suddenly. Draco turned to look. He had expected Charlie and the girls to be with her. But she stood all by herself in the heat of the kitchen smiling at Joey. Draco felt dirty and disgusting. He usually had girls swooning all over him. But Adrianna now saw him like nobody else ever had.

"Hey, come on up mush… the guys want to take you out to the Casbah this night." She said suddenly. "Aah yeah, the Casbah… The Beatles, man dose wer dem good times." Joey sighed out loud.

"B-but I'm…" Draco looked at his clothes. "Oh don't worry… you don't have to be some fancy Martin 'Enrie to get into the Casbah. They'll take you for the money."

"W-well, I don't have a-any." But Joey thrust a few notes into his hand. "That's yer pay fer the day."

"C'mon mush, we don't have all night!" Adrianna said loudly as she turned out.

Draco took off his apron, ruffled his hair and followed Adrianna. "Hey, I'd really like to thank you…. You know, for everything."

"Aww, you're a sweet guy!" Adrianna laughed. "Not like some of 'em others. But it's cool. You're the topic of the town now- new guy from London."

"Oh r-right."

"Say, you've been through some hard times, haven't yeh?" Adrianna said suddenly as they crossed the road over to a small door with neon lights that shone _The Casbah Coffee House._

"Yes… I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh, well that's alright." Adrianna looked away straight to the door. "We've got you."


End file.
